316 , [April, 



Aj^ril 19th. 

 Vice-President Bridges in the Chair. 



A letter was read from the Secretary of the New York Lyceum of 

 Natural History, dated April 12th, 1853", acknowledging the receipt of 

 the Proceedings of the Academy, vol. 6, No. 7. 



Dr. Wetheriil exhibited an improved apparatus for the analysis of the 

 Carbonates, on the plan of Wills. ^ 



Dr. Meigs, referring to his former communication to the Academy upon the 

 structure of the uterus of the Porpoise, remarked that since that time, until 

 recently, he had been unable to obtain a second specimen. On last Saturday 

 he received from Capt. Bennett, of the steamer Osprey, a fine specimen, about 

 six feet long, of Delphinus delphis, which he had dissected. The uterus, in 

 this specimen, was not, as in the former, gravid the cervix was more fusiform, 

 but still the peculiar double arrangement, noticed in the first specimen, was well 

 marked. Dr. Meigs remarked that it was an interesting question, whether the 

 cervix uteri of all plunging animals is similarly formed, and referred to the 

 suggestion in his former paper, of the use of the double cervix in resisting the 

 pressure of the sea at great depths, which pressure upon the body and fundus 

 would tend to produce abortion. 



April 2QtJu 

 Mr. Ord, President, in the Chair. 



The Committee on Mr. Conrad's paper, describing new species of 

 Unio, reported in favor of publication in the Journal. 



The Committee on Mr. Conrad's ^' Monograph of the genus Fulgur," 

 reported in favor of publication in the Proceedings. 



Monogra-pli of the genus Fulgur, 

 By T. A. Conrad. 



FULGUR Montforti 

 Pyrula Lam. 



Shell pyriform ; spire short ; varices none ; body whorl very large ; aperture 

 large, oval, extended towards the base into an elongate-conic, open canal, entire 

 at base : umbilicus none ; epidermis deciduous ; labium concave, with a single 

 fold or oblique groove near the origin of the canal, and a slight calcareous depo- 

 sition above ; labrum simple, many of the species having elevated strice which 

 do not revolve far within the shell, nor do they reach the edge of the labrum, 

 but leave a smooth border ; operculum horny. 



Remarks. The striae on the interior of the labrum are given by Say and 

 Montfort in the generic character of Fulgur ; but Say does not allude to them in 

 his description oi F. pyndoides^ which, I believe, never has them. This is the 

 case with a few other species, agreeing in every other respect, generically, with 

 the undoubted species. 



This genus is usually confounded with Melongeva, Rapana and others, but 

 the group is very distinct, and the animal widely different from its congeners, 

 though it does not appear to have been figured or described. Living specimens 

 are abundant on the coast of New Jersey, and could easily be obtained, whilst 

 an anatomical description of the animal is still a desideratum. The manner in 

 which the young are excluded in spiral series of cells, was noticed and figured 

 by Lister. This peculiarity is common to F. ca?ialiculatum and F. perversum, 

 and is doubtless persistent throughout the group. 



